Treasury chief Gordon Brown, expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister by September, suggested Sunday that he will pursue an Iraq policy that is more independent of Washington than the current government. Brown acknowledged that mistakes were made in the aftermath of the invasion and promised to be “very frank” with President Bush. He also said that Britain is likely to scale down its commitment of troops to Iraq over the next year — even as the White House is considering dispatching thousands more, at least temporarily. Brown’s comments, aired on the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Sunday AM program, seemed intended to distinguish himself from Blair, who has been criticized in Britain for his strong support for Bush and the war, both unpopular here. “I look forward, if I am in a new position, to working with the president of the United States, George Bush,” Brown said. “Obviously, people who know me know that I will speak my mind. I will be very frank. ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

OWJA, Iraq - Like many residents of Saddam Hussein's ancestral village of Owja, No'man al Nasseri bears more than a passing resemblance to its most famous son. The swarthy face wears much the same crooked smirk, a hefty moustache graces the lip and a generous waistline testifies to years of privilege as a member of the tyrant's extended family. Last week, though, as fellow Sunnis continued to weep at Saddam's grave in Owja, the former general looked embarrassed when asked why locals hadn't launched revenge attacks on the village's small American army base. "It is not true what people say in Baghdad, that we in Owja are cowards or collaborators," he protested nervously. He said that the wealthy residents of Tikrit and Owja have simply played a different role in the insurgency, acting as bankrollers rather than foot soldiers. As he spoke, a tranquil scene nearby showed just how comfortable Owja's relationship with Saddam's conquerors has become....http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070106-105607-4110r.htm

Saudi Arabia has said it will start taking deliveries of 72 Eurofighter jets from UK defence company BAE Systems "very soon". The comments come a month after the Serious Fraud Office controversially dropped an investigation into a 1980s BAE Systems deal with Saudi Arabia. It was reported that the Saudis had threatened to cancel the Eurofighter deal unless the probe was halted. The UK government said the inquiry was dropped for national security reasons. Yet critics attacked the move, saying the government had put commercial interest before ethics and had given in to Saudi blackmail. BAE's 1980s Al Yamamah contract with Saudi Arabia - thought to have been worth £40bn ($77bn) to the firm - involved Tornado and Hawk jets and a major airbase construction programme. The Serious Fraud Office's probe centred on accusations that the company had used slush funds to sweeten the deal, something BAE strongly denied. The Saudi's latest comments, the first since the Serious Fraud Office dropped ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6238633.stm

Indian army soldiers are patrolling districts of Assam state after at least 55 people were killed in two days of attacks by suspected separatists. Police say the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) is responsible, but the rebel group has yet to respond. A permanent curfew has been imposed in the Tinsukia district following a spate of attacks on Hindi-speaking settlers. The government has sent a high-level team to assess the worst violence seen in the state for at least a decade. Officials said security forces were mounting an "all out" offensive against the separatists, aimed at flushing them out of their camps in Assam's jungles. "Massive combing operations have started and additional troops are being rushed to the affected areas," Assam's chief minister Tarun Gogoi told Reuters news agency. Police said the rebel group attacked six colonies of Hindi-speaking labourers in the northern districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia within three hours. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6238493.stm

There is no evidence organic food is better for you than conventional food, minister David Miliband has said. The environment secretary said organic food was more of a "lifestyle choice that people can make". There is no "conclusive evidence either way" concerning the health effects of pesticides, he told the Sunday Times. The Soil Association, which regulates organic food, said studies show a difference between organic food and food produced using industrial methods. It was critical of Mr Miliband's suggestion that food grown with the use of pesticides and other chemicals should not be regarded as inferior. Mr Miliband: "It's only 4% of total farm produce, not 40%, and I would not want to say that 96% of our farm produce is inferior because it's not organic." He said despite the rise in organic sales being "exciting" for shoppers, they should not think of conventionally-produced food as "second best". ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6238227.stm

The controversial Archbishop of Warsaw has resigned, less than an hour before he was due to be installed in his post. Stanislaw Wielgus has been at the centre of a communist-era spying row, and recently admitted collaborating with the secret police. He announced the decision in person at a special Mass for his installation, to a mixture of applause and shouting. The Vatican's mission in Poland said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the archbishop's resignation. The Pope has asked Cardinal Jozef Glemp, Archbishop Wielgus' predecessor, to return to his post temporarily "until further decisions have been taken concerning the archdiocese", the brief statement added. The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the archbishop was under tremendous pressure to resign, but the decision to step down minutes before his lavish inauguration is unprecedented. But historians estimate that up to 15% of Polish clergy agreed to inform on their colleagues in the communist era. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6238165.stm